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First, Bhuvi opens the bowling. Then he closes it. In between, when India loses its grip, he comes on to keep it tight. Often it's hard to tell what the fuss about Bhuvi is. Because if there's one thing that Bhuvi doesn't do is fuss about anything: whether he has the openers on a string (with his new ball swing) or whether he outfoxes the big hitters with his variations. It is beautifully bland, ball after ball, new thought after new thought, the celebrations and the hair colour are saved for others. It's almost as if Bhuvi never took the wicket and the catcher or the captain or whoever is topping the celebration charts did.Yet it's a pleasure to watch Bhuvi across formats - the same ice cool but one sharp mind that adapts and switches his craft. He's a welcome exception to the hype of international cricket frenzies.

He's been many a captains' go-to guy. In Test cricket, especially overseas, it isn't uncommon to see Bhuvi bowl the bulk of the overs - in England, in 2014, in three Tests, Bhuvi was pretty much the bowling spine - 124.5 overs for his 15 wickets. Add to that three half centuries, 228 runs in the series.

In the recently concluded Test series, he had South Africa on its knees at 12/3, knocking over the openers and Hashim Amla. He played two out of the three Tests, finishing with 10 wickets and 101 runs at an average of 33 in a low scoring series. That he did not play in the second Test match, is still a sore point. By the time India won the Johannesburg Test, there were enough reasons to believe that Bhuvi and not Pandya is the all-rounder (at least in Tests) that India's looking for.

However, compared to Test cricket and T20I's, where his bowling average is 26 and 22, in ODI's, his average is just 38.31. He went wicketless in his last three ODI's vs South Africa. In six matches prior to that, he only took one wicket on each occasion (with a 1/92 against New Zealand in Kanpur).

Is there a case to use Bhuvi more effectively in only Tests and T20s? Or will he swing things back in one-day cricket too?

There is merit in caution, and India must decide whether they want Bhuvi the match winner (only yesterday he knocked SA over with his best T20I figures, 5/24)

Of late, India has reaped the rewards of playing wrist spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav over seniors, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in ODI's and T20's. Jasprit Bumrah made his Test debut in South Africa - when conventional wisdom would've gone with the tried and tested, Ishant Sharma.

There's a long international season ahead, but before that, there's another pointless ODI series with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. If India wants Bhuvi at his best, they may have to cherry-pick when they play him - and when they rest him.

It could well mean resting him altogether for the tri-series, because what follows is the IPL (where he was retained by his franchise, Hyderabad Sunrisers) a first Test against Afghanistan and the England series.

What India decides on doing with Bhuvi today, will have far-reaching implications in the years to come - and be the difference between a match-winner and just another economical bowler.

Time starts now. It's over to Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri. Bhuvi is not from Mumbai or Delhi, he's from Meerut, he's soft-spoken yet articulate. There's a twinkle to the eye as there is to his bowling.

After his 5/24 against South Africa, he walked back chatting with Bumrah and Pandya, as if it was just another day at the office. Maybe unlike most of us, that's what Bhuvi enjoys - just another day at the office. It's a lesson for youngsters, no matter what the success, no matter what the perks, no matter what the falls, take it in your stride. Far greater chance then, you'll enjoy the ride.

(Hat-tip to @Cricket_GIF who started the conversation on Bhuvi's inadequacies as an ODI bowler)

Virat Kohli
made his Test debut on 20th June, 2011 in the West Indies. In five
innings, his highest was 30. He followed that with two fifties against the
Windies in Mumbai, making it to the flight Down Under. He made 11 and 0 at the
Boxing Day Test. By 29th December, 2011, India was beaten by 122
runs within four days.

Even six
years back, Twitter was an unforgiving space for cricketers that did not pass
muster on the scorecard. By the look of it, Virat had been put under scrutiny
and told off repeatedly, worse still by Tweeters tagging him so he was
privileged to read their abuse. (In those early days, it’s doubtful that Virat
had e-sleuths handling his social media account).

On 1st
January, 2012, Virat requested “Those who are
here only to criticise can unfollow :) we are humans not machines”.

Those who are here only to criticise can unfollow :) we are humans not machines

Within a
fortnight however, the Virat run-machine was ready to go: scoring his first
Test fifty at Perth, followed by his first Test century at Adelaide. Since
then, Virat has added 20 more Test centuries

At the time
of the tweet, Virat had already played 74 ODIs, scoring eight centuries,
averaging over 46. He had already been part of India’s World Cup winning team
beckoning his mates to carry Sachin Tendulkar on their shoulders.

Since then,
Virat has scored 26 more ODI centuries, his batting average has shot up to in
excess of 57.

During the
third ODI at Cape Town, Rohit Sharma, not exactly Twitter’s darling, faced an
over from hell from Kagiso Rabada. Rohit survived five balls but was done-for
on the sixth. It was time for Rohit jokes again. They even outlasted South
Africa’s innings. Rohit may not be too off the mark if he shares Virat’s above
tweet.

While Rohit’s
overseas innings provide us with much mirth, to tag him on Twitter is just not
on. It is nothing short of abuse. Wonder how these people who abuse Rohit (by
tagging him) would behave if they came face to face with him?

Now is a
good time to admit that I enjoy Rohit Sharma jokes too. The good ones
(especially when they don’t tag him) are part of Twitter folklore. But to lash
out at him, abuse him, hold him responsible for his dismissals – as if he’s
dying to be dismissed is refusing to read the game. There may be merit in
criticising the selection policy, but even there abusing coach, Ravi Shastri by
tagging him on Twitter is below the belt.

By now,
Rohit’s social-media team may well be on overdrive muting and blocking Twitter
users. It’s a sad reflection of our times where we cannot comment on a subject
without annoying or offending someone – and that too without making sure they
feel downright rotten about themselves.

In the third
ODI, Virat had some close shaves that could have gone either way. Without his
unbeaten 160, the rest of the team could well have been up for some generous
abuse too.

Hardik
Pandya is already finding life after the home season an altogether different world.
His new found limitations with the bat have received much scrutiny, be it on
Live television or Twitter.

In
hindsight, it was Virat’s fifth Test, almost seven years back in Melbourne,
that earned him much abuse. That after a 52 and 63 in his previous Test match. Somewhat
ironically, Pandya’s fifth Test too, swung open the floodgates of abuse. That
after a top score of 93 in the previous Test in Cape Town.

It was too
early to tell back then what Virat would become today. Perhaps it’s a trifle
premature to write off Pandya too. And even if the experts in us, can’t help
but mock him and write him off as an IPL bully, a little thought is always
welcome.

Why tag him?
Before long, we’ll be eating our own tweets. And making others eat theirs. For,
like in Virat then, in Pandya, however unfinished and unformed he might be
today, is a once-in-a-generation cricketer.

Virat Kohli,
at the time of the 2012 tweet, had only just turned 23. As for Hardik Pandya,
he turned 24 a few months back. It might throw a lot of things into perspective
if we were to look back and recall how we were at that age. How harsh will you
be with your younger self now?

Perhaps, it’s
time to move on. To take a leaf out of Tom Robbins’ book, “it’s never too late
to have a happy childhood”. Or the other option out of Virat Kohli’s book,
“unfollow J”.

Hat
tip: to someone on my timeline who shared Virat’s tweet yesterday. First published here

It would be wrong to say that it’s too easy for Virat Kohli. If you look
closely at most of his innings, he hardly ever takes the easy way out. If
anything, he takes the rough way, replete with thorny bushes, sudden drops, a
flight of steep steps, abrupt darkness, a classic video game chase on a higher
level. It’s another thing, he’s mastered the chase. To borrow, Sunil Gavaskar’s
new oddity, he’s a “chase master”.

Much like an obsessive teenage kid, he’s mastered this game but refuses
to tire of it or the approach that ushers him to the top score each time.

Rather than be an excited 20 something, quite bored of his toys, Virat’s
prime toy is the chase. And he wants to play it, more or less the same way each
time.

Virat doesn’t want a new car. He doesn’t want to step up or simulate a
highway when he’s driving in the street, he knows the city limits and he’s
always within kissing distance of them - if and when he breaches the limits, no
cops, no cameras, nobody can tell. For all you know, he might well be
intoxicated but the breathalyser has been breached by him.

Virat has breached the chase code. It looks simple because he has. That
he refuses to relay this truth, to even himself, is what makes the breach
appear so seamless. Nothing is taken for granted. Not the boundaries, nor the
tight singles. And if at the altar of a tight single, a batsman is sacrificed,
so be it. The chase code is entered before he walks out to bat. There is no
going back. Sometimes it will be Dhawan, sometimes it will be Rohit, sometimes
it will be him, sometimes you just have to run against the damning odds. For
that’s what brings about a rush of blood, from the legs to the head.

For each such magnificent chase, often adding to an equally magnificent
statistic, is the thing of building, nay laboured construction, but not just
day labour - often it’s what breaches into the afterhours, into extra time, at
night, under lights. Often you will be led to believe that he’s playing these
innings between the sheets. That each Virat innings is nothing short of sex.

There are way too many different ways to describe a Virat innings. But
what shines through each time is his commitment to stay committed - to not play
that ball in the air. We’ve seen it repeatedly, it’s been spoken of repeatedly,
and should be said, without wordplay or smart phrase repeatedly, Virat refuses
to play the ball in the air. Neither Virat’s head nor the ball he plays is in
the air. It could be on the up, but rarely is it in the air.

It’s a learning for Virat, and through each innings he teaches himself
that same old boring lesson again. Ajinkya Rahane marked his return with two
sixes, Virat stayed put with 10 fours but no six.

In 203 ODIs, Virat has 98 sixes. In 175 ODIs, Rohit has 164 sixes. When
it comes to boundaries, Virat has 849 fours to Rohit’s 553. A comparison
between two of the world’s best ODI batsmen throws a difference in batting
average that’s over 10 – Virat’s 56 to Rohit’s 45.

Rohit has 16 ODI centuries, Virat has 33. Rohit has three double centuries, Virat none. Chances are, Rohit, like most top order ODI batsmen,
will often be dismissed attempting to play a big shot in the air. Rohit pulled
Morkel for six in the third over, he perished attempting another such shot in
the seventh over. With 13 needed for a win, Virat allowed himself the luxury of
playing the ball in the air.

While we delight in the statistic, the 33rd century, the records that
lie broken, strewn at his feet, Virat delights, roaring in the dressing room,
at another Indian chase gone right. Dhoni and Pandya are at the crease, Virat
appears like just another foot soldier, playing it, with a jump, in the air for
a change.